Post navigation

I tried something different this year. Each track starts with a sample from a horror movie, hence the name of the movie before the song in the track listing. Also the movie poster of the movie is attached in the song info so it will appear on iPods and computers.

All songs by Professor D are by me. Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think. Feel free to share and pass on the link. If you want more, check out the previous year’s mixes links at the bottom of this post.

The Invisible Man (1933), based on the H.G. Wells novel, is the story of Dr. Jack Griffin creating a formula that turns his entire body invisible and drives him immediately insane. The special effects were way ahead of their time and can be seen as the precursor for modern blue and green screen special effects. The effect of the body being invisible while wearing clothes was achieved by wrapping all of Claude Rains’ exposed skin in black velvet and filming him against a black velvet background. Then the filmmakers would composite the shot with another of the room the Invisible Man was in; other times they would use wires.

The Electro-Tones are one of those bands that is hard to find any information on. Their modern visibility is due to being promoted as a lost gem by The Cramps. They can be found on many compilation albums of classic rockabilly horror songs. This song was the A-side of a 45 released in 1961 on JB Records in New York. I like to start these mixes with an instrumental and this one stood out to me with its guitar mimicry of a haunting train whistle.

The opening sample for this song comes from the trailer to Maximum Overdrive. This was the only movie ever directed by writer Stephen King. In the full trailer, seen here, King expresses his displeasure with previous movie adaptations of his books. He famously even hates the Stanley Kubrick version of The Shining, which I would place among the best horror films of all time. The original Carrie is great, though it doesn’t go far enough in the end when compared to the book where she destroys most of the town. What he produced is considered to terrible. When asked why he hasn’t directed since Maximum Overdrive, he answers, “Watch Maximum Overdrive.” It isn’t all bad. There is some fun stuff, and it has a so bad it’s good quality.

My first song this year is a cover of The Dark’s “The Masque”. They were a British punk/goth band from the late 70’s. While they don’t have a large discography, it is all worth checking out.

The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers tells the story of a community where the citizens are being replaced by alien pods that make perfect replicas, but lack the human personality of those replaced. The sample on the song is from the main character’s freak out at the end of the movie. For such an old film, there are parts that really hold up. There have been many correlations between its story and McCarthyism; even though the makers of the movie deny that intention, they also say that the comparison was inevitable. All of the best horror films have something more to say than just scaring the audience.

Boots Walker was an alias of Louis Zerato, a frequent collaborator with doo-wop singer and songwriter Ernie Maresca, who produced “They’re Here” for a 45 released in 1967 on Rust Records.

The Devil’s Rejects is one of the best horror movies of the past twenty years. There are many who disagree, but it is such a different type of horror film than your typical slasher fare that I am always thrilled no matter how many times I see it. It is the sequel to the equally good House of 1000 Corpses and easily the best that Rob Zombie has made so far. The digital effects are the worst element of the movie, and are more noticeable than I remember. The original plan was for effects to be completely practical, but time constraints made that impossible. It is not for the squeamish; I usually compare it to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Natural Born Killers, but more violent and unsettling.

“Halloween” comes from The Smears’, an English band, 2012 album Dirty Protest. They are Emma O’Neill on guitar and vocals, Natalie Caulton on bass, and Collette on drums. They are very active in the Nottingham punk scene, organizing festivals like Eastrogen Extravaganza, featuring female punk bands from East Midlands, and touring. They champion punk bands from lower economic classes and the D.I.Y aesthetic.

It is not often that I find a remake to be better than the original, but The Fly really delivers. It retains the tragic love story and body-horror of the original, but manufactures a much more believable movie due to excellent special effects, performances by Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, and David Cronenberg’s direction.

Here is a surprise that I didn’t know until I started researching the song, the female singer in this one is Sinead O’ Conner. It is from the album If It Bleeds We Can Kill It. Mr. Hyde is a Horrorcore rapper from Queens, New York. The samples of Nicolas Cage ranting about being a vampire are from the 80s movie, Vampire’s Kiss. He plays publishing executive who thinks he is being turned into a vampire, only he isn’t. It is all in his head.

1958’s Wind Across the Everglades is not a horror movie. It is a story of a game warden played by Christopher Plummer, in his debut role, who is trying to enforce conservation laws in the everglades of south Florida. The antagonists are a group of poachers led by Burl Ives.

This is my original song for the year. I’ve written a lot of Hallowen songs based on or inspired by horror movies and themes, and this year I wanted to try something different. I wanted to make something more personal and asked myself, what can I take from my own life experiences that would work for this type of song. Growing up in south Florida, I spent a lot of time in the Everglades and they could be pretty creepy. I heard many legends growing up and mentioned a few favorites. The first verse is a general overview, setting the scene. The second is the legend of the Ghost Boy. He drowned trying to swim across a lake on a dare. If you look in the water and see red eyes staring back, he will try to pull you down with him. The third verse is about the skunk ape. I first heard the story on a camp out in the glades. The skunk ape originated in the Smokey Mountains but was driven south by European colonization and ended up in the everglades. The way I heard the story, it is an albino bigfoot, though I’ve seen it represented as the more traditional brown haired creature. I made the song with no effects; it is just raw audio, one guitar track, one vocal track.